Stronghold Crusader 2
Stronghold Crusader 2 (SHC2) is the successor of the 2002 game Stronghold Crusader and the latest installment in the Stronghold series. It is planned to come out in September 2nd, 2014http://www.strongholdcrusader2.com/?p=552, with the game now available for pre-order on Steam.http://store.steampowered.com/app/232890/ Firefly shares interviews on its home site, www.fireflyworlds.com. There are periodic votes on community sites, as well as it operates a public tweet, where fans can ask their questions of the upcoming game. The official site has seen a refurbishment on June 12th, which is now promoted to the official website. It contains a small library of concept arts and more content will be released as information is revealed. News are regularly updated and published, as well as community videos are released and a forum is set up to discuss topics about the game. Public content is released on Facebook and Twitter as well. Background For the development history, see the game's development log. Crusader 2 is going to be based on the groundbreaking success of its predecessor, Stronghold Crusader. Its variable skirmish mode and interesting gameplay feeling it gives are the main reasons why fans loved the game very much. Simon Bradbury (leader of Firefly Studios) confessed that he and his colleagues have always wanted to create the perfect Stronghold game. SHC2 was announced in 2012 summer. Bradbury also approved that they have to learn much about business and copyright when releasing a game as a small company. He pointed out the release of Stronghold 3, which was released far earlier than it should have been because of a third-party company's demands and license, eventually leading to a massive negative reception both from famous game critics and fans, mainly because of the numerous bugs and most fans felt that this game is not 100% ready. Crusader 2 is going to be created and worked on by Firefly only, meaning that they have now full control over the game, including its publish circumstances. New content For more information, see this link: Crusader 2 Fact sheet *3D Vision engine instead of a 2D engine, with similar tile-based placement of buildings and units. *Steam support, along with friend lists and game invites between fellow users. *An Arabic skirmish trail, resembling the Crusader Trail from Stronghold Crusader.http://t.co/aix9fYodKx *8 AI characters with bigger interaction and different playstyles. Recurring opponents from previous games are the Rat, the Wolf, the Caliph, Richard The Lionheart and Saladin. New mentioned opponents are the reserved, easy-going Shah and the unit swarmer Slave King. At least 6 opponents are planned to be added after game release. *A bunch of new unique units: **European units: Sergeant-at-arms and the Templar Knight. **Arab units: Whirling Dervish, Slave Driver, Sassanid Knight and the Healer. **Siege engines: the Fire Ballista, the War Wolf and the War Wagon. *Special abilities for some units: a whirling attack for the Dervish, an attack boost for slaves by the Slavedriver, togglable stealth ability for the assassin, an Arrow Storm for the Siege Camp and a charge ability for the Sassanid Knight. *Multiplayer cooperative mode, which allows multiple players to work on the same castle (resembling the Castle Builder mode), in player vs computer games as well. *Togglable dynamic events during battles, such as sandstorms disturbing vision, fire, tornados and locust swarms. *Units will use tools to destroy walls instead of their standard melee attack. *Brand new economic system. *Unique Arabic and Crusader style for every building. *New housing system based on distance from the keep (derived from Stronghold 3). *New buildings mainly focused on combat: church (redone), mosque, outpost (possible inherit from Crusader Extreme) and the guard house. *Unit groups will be able to take certain formations (derived from Stronghold 2). Merchandise Stronghold Crusader 2 is available on Steam for pre-order. Ordering players receive a small bundle, including a -10% discount off the release price, 'Justice' and 'Freedom Fighters' mini-campaigns, ten unique crests and a Power Pack for Stronghold Kingdoms. A Special Edition can also be ordered for more content. This order involves the above, plus a digital artbook, a library of the game's soundtracks and a free copy of Stronghold Crusader HD on Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/232890/ Trivia *Unseen in the original Crusader, players will be able to play as Stronghold Crusader 2 characters in Skirmish mode.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_wj63ZvsD4 Videos Teaser trailer: Official trailer for Gamescom 2013: Gameplay screenshots 1_ex_lrg.jpg|Blue Arabian castle 2_ex_lrg.jpg|Small red castle 3_ex_lrg.jpg|Horse archers and a ballista retailiating 4_ex_lrg.jpg|A squad of catapults advancing 5_ex_lrg.jpg|Two armies before battle screen2.jpg|Green encampment near an oasis screen3.jpg|Battle on a hill screen6.jpg|Disease spread inside a castle screen7.jpg|Arabian troops waiting at a river Tealcastle.png|Rectangular teal castle Yellowcastle.png|Yellow castle (resembling the Emir's castles) Caliphcastle.png|The Caliph's castle slave_driver_2.jpg|A group of slaves slave_driver_3.jpg|A burning castle Concept arts and wallpapers Sc2 sword.png|Wallpaper from the official fansite Sc2 logo.jpg|Alternative logo assassinSC2.jpg|The recurring Assassin (concept art) assasinclimbing.jpg|Merchandise art (with the Assassin on pic) shc2_4.jpg|Merchandise picture (view of a preparing army) arabsman.jpg|An Arab Swordsman (concept art) h.jpg|The Slavedriver (concept art) StrongholdCrusaders2.jpg|Arabian Bowman (concept art) shc2_arabbowman.jpg|Arabian Bowman (rendered) ballista_war_wolf.jpg|The debuting Ballista and War Wolf sassanid_concept.jpg|The Sassanid Knight (concept art) desert_castle.jpg|A desert castle siege_camp_sc2.jpg|The siege camp (concept art) slavedriver_fanart.jpg|The slavedriver (concept art) Requirements Note: from NVIDIA cards, at least GeForce 8800GT is needed. For ATI/AMD cards, at least Radeon HD 2900XT is needed. External links Stronghold Crusader 2 Related Websites *Official Website *Firefly Studios Website *Official Facebook and Twitter *Stronghold Crusader 2 Blog Articles and Interviews *2013.01 interview with Hooked Gamers *2013.03 interview with Strategy Informer *2013.03.25 interview with RTSguru *2013.04.23 interview with fwd.lt (in Lithuanian) *2013.06.18 article on Polygon *2013.06.25 article on gamer.nl (in Dutch) *2013.06.27 article on RTSguru *2013.08.27 article on Hooked Gamers *2013.09.04 video about the Caliph *2013.09.17 article on The 6th Axis *2013.10.18 pre-alpha footage: Lord Seraxia *2013.11.12 article on Gaminglives *2014.01.14 article on GGSGamer *2013.06.13 community Q&A video part 1 *2013.06.27 community Q&A video part 2 *2013.07.11 community Q&A video part 3 *2013.07.25 community Q&A video part 4 *2013.09.19 community Q&A video part 5 *2013.12.19 community Q&A video part 6 References Navigation ru:Stronghold Crusader 2 Category:Games